“The federal government has spent billions to promote the idea of 1Malaysia and a united Malaysia, yet the court ruling for this case has expressed a different sentiment.”
KOTA KINABALU: Concerns have risen over the rights of East Malaysian Christians in Peninsular Malaysia following yesterday’s Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling which defered to the decision on The Herald.
Although the issues were unrelated, Justice Zaleha Yusof in her judgement said that she was ‘bound’ by the decision of the Court of Appeal on the Herald issue.
The court had ruled that the use of Allah is not an integral part of the practice and faith of Christianity, on the Herald issue.
Before Justice Zaleha yesterday was Sabah Sijil Injil Borneo (SIB) seeking to challenge the Home MInistry’s confistication of three boxes of children’s religious book containing Malay terms ‘Allah’ , ‘Batullah’, ‘Solat’ and ‘Kaabah’ in August 2007.
Her decision has raised question over the religious rights of the over 100,000 East Malaysian Christians in Peninsular Malaysia.
Speaking to FMTBorneoPlus, Council of Churches Malaysia secretary general Herman Shastri described the ruling as a “challenge”.
“It (the ruling) underscores the importance of an outstanding issue that needs to be resolved that of East Malaysian working in Peninsular Malaysia.
“Christians in Sabah and Sarawak would continue to use the Malay Bibles since they are protected by Sarawak’s 18 Point Agreement, Sabah’s 20 Point Agreement and the 10 Point Resolution that was agreed upon by the Cabinet.
“The judgement would not stop the Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians from using the Malay Bibles.
“But the challenge now is for Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians who are working in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.
Moyog assemblyman Terence Siambun whilst in part echoing Shastri’s view, added that the ruling “didn’t make any sense”.
“This is a step backwards for Malaysia in terms of unity.
“The federal government has spent billions to promote the idea of 1Malaysia and a united Malaysia, yet the court ruling for this case has expressed a different sentiment.”
“It doesn’t make sense for us Christians in East Malaysia to be able to use the word ‘Allah’ yet it is prohibited in the Peninsular.
“This means that Sabahans who go over to the peninsular won’t be allowed the same right as they have here.
“What message does this bring across Malaysia?” he asked.
Yesterday, following Justice Zaleha’s ruling, SIB lawyer Annou Xavier reportedly described the verdict as creating a dangerous situation for freedom to practise one’s faith in Malaysia.
He said that when the Court of Appeal ruled against Herald in October, Christian federal ministers from East Malaysia had said that the ruling was limited to the use of the word “Allah” in Herald in Peninsular Malaysia.
“So the fact the High Court judge (Zaleha) has ruled against this Sabah body is a very dangerous precedent which is using the Court of Appeal decision that the word Allah is not integral to Christianity as a benchmark,” Annou said.
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